"In light air, avoid the common mistake of sailing too close to the wind. In short, choppy waves, bear off to keep your speed up, but when you do so, remember to ease your sheets. Keep the boat on a steady, close-reaching course to accelerate to full speed. Be patient. "Story

This is a review from Practical boat owner on the Hawk 20.
"An open, centreboard, sea-going dayboat, around 20 feet overall, which would be fast on all points of sail, unsinkable, self-draining and, oh yes, completely self-righting even with her keel fully raised. And what Mike Reid, who was commissioning the design, really meant when he said self-righting, was uncapsizeable. The result was the Hawk 20 which took two-years to develop and is a quite remarkable boat to sail."

Outdoor Equipment Guide reviews the MSR DragonFly Stove.
" First I look at the type of fuel it uses, then I look at how stable the pot supports are, how compact the stove is and then, one of the most important features, how adjustable the flame is. Fuel is the life-blood of your stove, and in general, you would be best served buy using a stove that has multi-fuel capabilities. The DragonFly will burn just about any fuel worth cooking over to include kerosene and auto gas."

Outdoor Equipment Lightwave LED Flashlights.
"So with the above said, lets talk about a serious and professional flashlight. Lightwave is producing LED flashlights to fit any occasion. These products come in a family of 6. From the big Lightwave 4000 D-cell to the Lightwave Pocketbright, these hardy flashlights will brighten your nighttime activities and provide you with a very reliable tool."

Tony Polizzi helps his friend buy a new boat in: Good Luck and Elbow Grease.
"As we ghosted through the anchorage, we found her. Furling our sails we glided up to her and rafted. The first thing I noticed was a strange bow down list. As we stepped aboard into the cockpit we noticed that she was dirty but appeared to be in good order. All running rigging was shot, but the standing looked serviceable. The sails had been removed anemoved and stowed, another good sign."

Barry Brazier cruised from the USA to Australia.
"It took only 25 days to the Marquises and I quite enjoyed the solo trip. I manage to avoid loneliness by maintaining a firm schedule of watch keeping. Log maintenance, and radio listening. I could hear south Bound for over 1000 mls into the Pacific. I grew very fond of broadcasts from the BBC, ABC and Radio NZ. The V of A left a lot to be desired. Even Voice of the Andes was more interesting."

Tim Anderson takes a trip in a folding Proa on The Yucatan coast.
"Finally we got back to the Hostel. Everything we had was soaked again. There's a pattern here. Everything in the boat always got completely soaked. Even if it was in a so-called "dry bag". Every time we landed we had to dump and wring everything out and hang it up, even the guidebook. The guidebook claimed to be printed on all-rag paper and stitch-bound to survive this sort of abuse, which it did admirably"

James Baldwin tells us about the Antartic adventure of Trevor Robertson.
Anchoring in the Antarctic is difficult because the bottom is generally bare rock that's had its sediment scoured away by the ice," Trevor said. "The technique I used was to find the smallest available cove, drop the anchor, then quickly get into the dinghy and set four lines up ashore before the anchor drags. If you're in shallow enough water, the big bergs ground themselves before smashing into you."